This Saturday

In Union Square we'll be installing the trees! Please come by between 1:30 and 4:30 pm. All the trees are spoken for, but the public is welcome to come and observe the event! The more, the merrier!

Call for Participants!

The Somerville Topiary Farm needs you!

We seek artists, children, gardeners, architects, landscape architects, designers, and other creative citizens to participate in a public installation in Union Square.

All you need is an old Christmas tree and a design idea.

An area of Union Square will be gridded into “plots” for individual action. Each participant’s tree will be installed in the grid in a stand stenciled with the volunteer’s name. Participants may choose to clip their trees, and perhaps even to design and build armatures of wire or wood to attach to the trees, to create new forms and shapes. Once the trees take shape, together we will wrap them in a fabric of a single color.

Individual participation will give rise to the large-scale public spectacle of the Topiary Farm—a tree farm of whimsical shapes made entirely out of repurposed trees—the refuse of Christmas.

The time is now!

Instead of putting your tree out for trash collection, email us at somervilletopiaryfarm@gmail.com to sign on. We will set up a time during the first week of January to pick up your tree. All trees will be stored on site in Union Square in preparation for the event. Spots are limited because of the size of the site, so sign up now to secure your place. If you do not have a tree but would like to participate, we can provide you with a tree.

Installation Day is Saturday, January 23 (snow date: January 24). Show up on site to dress your tree. The community event of making the topiary grid is part of the fun.

This event is part of the ArtsUnion winter sculpture series coordinated by the Somerville Arts Council. The trees will be on display in Union Square along with four other sculptures. There will be a public opening for all five sculptures (date TBD). Each participant will tend his or her tree for the duration of the installation.

Some inspiration

The project owes much to the work of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and contemporary landscape architects such as Claude Cormier, but it is set apart by its implication of the public.

[Claude Cormier's Jardin des bâtons bleus in Montreal]